It is often desirable to have electrical contacts which are mounted into a housing wall. For example, a portable, two-way radio typically includes a battery portion which has both charger contacts and contacts for connection to the radio. Various approaches are used for mounting the contacts, such as ultrasonic welding of contact carriers or the use of molded-in contacts. It is also necessary to connect the contacts to the circuit on the inside of the housing. One known approach uses rivets which are fixed to a flex circuit. Rivets, however, do not produce highly reliable electrical connections to flex circuits and require ultrasonic welding or heat staking of the contact carrier to the housing wall. It is desirable to have a contact that can be surface mounted to a flex circuit and fit directly into an opening in the housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,073 by Mennona, incorporated herein by reference, describes an electrical contact for a battery that can be snap fit into an opening in the housing. The contacts are stamped or formed from thin metal and have surfaces protruding from the walls of the contacts that include a snap feature that mates with the wall of the housing. The contacts are attached to the flex circuit by soldering. While this method of providing contacts in the housing wall provides for a low-cost, easily manufactured contact assembly, it still requires that the contacts themselves be separate piece parts and be soldered to the flex circuit in order to make the proper fit. A contacting system or scheme that could eliminate the need for additional pieces and also eliminate the soldering step would be desirable.